Misconduct hearing continues for C4 undercover teacher

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A disciplinary hearing for a teacher who secretly filmed an undercover Channel 4 documentary will resume today.

Alex Dolan, from Cambridge, faces an allegation of unacceptable professional conduct brought by the General Teaching Council (GTC) for covertly compiling footage for the programme while working as a supply science teacher.

Made at four schools in Leeds and London and broadcast in July 2005, the documentary showed pupils fighting in class and running on tables, while others swore in the face of teachers and refused to work.

At an earlier hearing before the GTC panel in Birmingham, Dolan said she wanted to expose poor classroom standards, the deception of inspectors and the manipulation of exam results and league tables for the benefit of pupils and parents.

She told the professional conduct committee: “I believe it was caring because I got to know these children. I feared for them a great deal.

“They were so failed by the system. I was lucky – I got a good education. They weren’t getting that. I made this film for them.”

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The documentary was broadcast after clearance from a High Court judge who refused to issue an injunction sought by Leeds City Council, ruling instead that it served important public interests.

Dolan agreed, telling the panel: “These problems were so serious they had to be brought to the public interest. The bottom line was the pupils were suffering.”